Paved with Good Intentions
by literallyadinosaur
Summary: Ruby's plan was simple: go back in time before the Vytal Tournament, warn Ozpin (anonymously) about Cinder's plans to prevent Penny and Pyrrha from dying, return to her timeline and live happily ever after. Now trapped in her younger self's body, Ruby has to deal with a changing past and consequences she could have never predicted.
1. Chapter 1

It had been a simple plan: go back to the past, prevent the deaths that still haunted her nights, and then go back.

What tipped Ruby off that it would not be that simple wasn't-surprisingly enough–the fact that she was falling when she had just been on solid ground. Or that she that couldn't figure out _where_ she was falling, the top of trees the only thing she could see. It was, instead, the way her eyes were tearing up because of her falling speed. Eyes. Plural.

The novelty of having depth perception again was almost enough to distract her from the fast approaching ground. In a daze she felt more than watched how her body used the recoil from Crescent Rose to slow down before spinning around a branch to arrest her momentum. It was only during the final spin that the disassociation began to fade; the surprise making her fall in an uncoordinated heap.

The impact finished grounding her, making Ruby finally remember her situation. Quickly sitting up, she looked around. Satisfied that there was no one nearby she reached to touch her right eye expecting to find her usual patch.

A poked eye later, she was breathing hard to calm down.

_What is going on?_ she thought, trying to remember if she had read anything about old injuries healing themselves. She went to look in her bag to check if she had missed something when she realized that there was no bag. There was nothing nearby either, the forest seemingly undisturbed besides the branches broken in her fall.

Ruby wasn't someone prone to panic but her current situation was almost enough to make her wish she could freak out without feeling guilty about it. Inside the bag had been not only the research notes she had borrowed but also her way back home.

She was stuck, wherever or whenever she was, at least for the time being.

Well, the "where" was a mystery but Ruby was pretty sure she was in the forests near Beacon, if only because the academy had been her original destination.

It was the "when" that was the problem. How far into the past had she jumped? Intent was supposedly more important than anything else so she should have enough time to warn Ozpin about Cinder's plans but that didn't really answer her question.

First things first, she decided. As long as she didn't know how much time she had, she needed to make getting to Beacon a priority. Only then she'd worry about going back home. Nodding to herself she turned, only to see a Grimm right in front of her.

— — —

The _jump_ had taken a lot more from Ruby than she had expected. Crescent Rose felt heavier, and it didn't help that the Beowulf seemed to resist her hits more easily than it should have.

Slowly, Ruby and the beast moved through the forest, having to catch her breath more than once after jumping out of the beast's reach before leaping back to hit the Grimm with her scythe.

Running towards a tree, she jumped once again and slammed her feet into the trunk, using the impulse and the recoil of her rifle to turn herself in the air and land facing the Beowulf's back. That was her chance, and she used it. Once again using the recoil of her rifle to gain speed, she spun in place and just before the monster turned she extended her scythe, beheading it cleanly.

The body hadn't even begun falling to the ground when she saw another two Grimm nearby, probably attracted by the fight.

Cleaning the sweat from her forehead, Ruby thought about her options. The beasts seemed to be taking their time, trying to flank her before attacking.

She figured she could still fight, but she was already tired and she didn't know how long it'd take to get to Beacon. She could probably beat these two but how many would appear afterwards? And she didn't like her chances if night fell with her still there.

The choice was clear. Hanging Crescent Rose behind her back, she activated her semblance. And then she exploded.

— — —

"Are you okay?"

Ruby was used to waking up still hearing the voices of those she had lost but this was the first time they had asked her if she was okay. With a groan she reached towards her head, trying to contain the pain that threatened to make her fall unconscious again.

_Ugh, did I go drinking again with Weiss? I can't remember the last time my head hurt this much…_, she thought.

Trying to open her eyes, she struggled to sit up but a hand gently forced her down. Feeling the ground with her hands Ruby realized that she wasn't in her bed. It had to have been a wild night if she had fallen asleep outside, or maybe Weiss had finally kicked her out…

"You should stay down a little longer, I think you hit your head when you fell, "the voice continued, making Ruby wonder if maybe she was still dreaming. "I'm sorry fo–"

With a gasp Ruby opened her eyes and even through the pain she recognized the worried green eyes that were hovering over hers, she had been seeing them every night for years after all.

"… for not catching you in time." Pyrrha finished, her brow furrowed at Ruby's new dumbfounded expression. "Are you okay?" she asked again.

Opening and closing her mouth multiple times, Ruby tried to calm herself down. _Of course_ Pyrrha was alive, that was the whole idea of traveling back. But that didn't make seeing her friend alive any easier.

She nodded, quickly closing her eyes again to try and hold back some tears. She couldn't risk Pyrrha recognizing her silver eyes. She was older and probably more rugged but silver eyes weren't exactly common, connecting her younger self to her current self wouldn't be hard if she gave her a chance.

"I need to go," Ruby started, making a second attempt at sitting up, this time Pyrrha not stopping her.

"Where? Do you have a partner already?"

"A partner?" And Ruby couldn't stop herself from opening her eyes to look at Pyrrha again, sealing her fate without even knowing it.

"Yes, a partner. Are you sure you're okay? Does your head hurt? I can't believe Professor Ozpin thinks this is a good idea, we are only students. And I haven't even found Jaune yet, I hope he still has my wea…"

Pyrrha's voice vanished under Ruby's panicked thoughts. _Partner? Does that mean I'm back to my first day of school? But why would she think I can be her partner unless…_

Ruby had never been too detail-oriented outside of battle. She was sure at least some of her colleagues thought she was a bit of an airhead. And for the first time in her life, she agreed with them.

The restored eye should have been her first clue. In her defense she hadn't been paying too much attention to herself but the black combat skirt was pretty unmissable now that she was looking down. Her injuries hadn't been magically healed, she had jumped back to a time and body where she was years away from suffering them.

_Did I jump into Past Ruby's body? Or is there another Ruby running around? …did I kill my younger self by jumping back?_ Shuddering, she tabled that thought for later. Hopefully she was only borrowing her body and going back would turn everything back to normal.

Pyrrha had stopped talking and was looking at her again, thrown off by Ruby's silence. _Probably trying to decide if she should try to get help_, Ruby thought.

"Sorry! I'm okay!" She said, quickly standing up, Pyrrha taking a few steps back in surprise. "I think I hit my head harder than I thought but I'm fine now," she continued, trying to calm down a very unconvinced Pyrrha.

"If you say so… so, do you have a part–"

"So, Pyrrha, right? We should go look for your weapon! Jaune is probably trying to find you!" Ruby interrupted, not wanting to get into that conversation.

Nonplussed, Pyrrha nodded. "I never introduced myself…" she asked, suspicion in her eyes.

Ruby gulped trying to think of an excuse before remembering a certain hoodie. "Oh, I saw you in a Pumpkin Pete's cereal box! I'm Ruby Rose, nice to meet you!"

Pyrrha's expression slightly dropped before smiling again and shaking her hand. Ruby's stomach churned in guilt, she should have remembered that her friend didn't like her fame.

"Nice to meet you too. Let's go find Jaune, I'm feeling a bit defenseless without Miló."

"Oh yeah, I definitely get that, I'm not sure what I'd do without my Crescent Rose. What happened?"

While Pyrrha recounted how she had thrown her weapon at Jaune to save him, Ruby was furiously thinking how to keep from screwing up things even more. Her plan depended on changing things as little as possible besides saving her friends. She wasn't an expert in time travel but nothing good ever happened when the timeline changed too much in her sci-fi comics.

_How can I get Jaune to partner with Pyrrha?_ she wondered, trying as hard as she could to avoid thinking about the other partnership in danger.


	2. Chapter 2

It was in moments like this that Ruby wondered if she had somehow inherited her uncle Qrow's semblance. It didn't matter that they weren't blood related, maybe it was contagious. She had drunk from his flask once or twice after all… Or maybe it was all a prank by the gods.

Next to her she could hear Jaune's labored breathing, trying to keep from moaning in pain. From what he had said, his arm was probably broken, but in the dark there was no way to check or stabilize the injury. Ruby's only hope was that it wasn't a compound fracture. She didn't want to imagine the risk of running with an arm like that.

With a sigh, she rubbed her eyes, trying to alleviate her headache. How had it all gone so wrong so quickly?

— — —

"It should be this way…" Pyrrha said, trying to orient herself in the forest, "I hope we don't encounter any Grimm until I recover Miló…"

Ruby was almost too distracted to say anything but there was something in Pyrrha's words that brought her back from her stupor.

"I… I didn't thank you for saving me from those Grimm, I hadn't even thought about you having to do it without your weapon so… thank you."

"What Grimm?" Pyrrha asked, looking at Ruby in concern.

"There were two Grimm before I passed out, you didn't have to defeat them?"

The redhead shook her head. "No, there was no one there. Wait, you fainted? I thought your landing strategy had failed!"

Opening her mouth to correct her, Ruby stopped. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was trying to use her semblance and then everything had gone black. "I think… I'm just confused, sorry," she ended up saying, Pyrrha looking even more concerned about her mental status.

Saying the wrong thing could cause problems to her younger self once she returned to the future. Hopefully being thought as having a concussion would be easier to deal with.

Pyrrha looked like she was about to say something when they heard a familiar voice through the forest.

"Help! Anyone there!?"

Recognizing it, Pyrrha began running towards its source, Ruby jogging behind thanking the stars for the interruption.

"Jaune! Where are you?" she asked, but it wasn't necessary, it didn't take long before they noticed the boy hanging from a tree. "Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, unable to contain her giggling.

"I'm okay… just hanging around, you know? The view is nice," Jaune began before changing his tone, "no, but seriously, help me down."

While a laughing Pyrrha climbed the tree where Jaune was stuck, Ruby was trying to trying to calm herself.

In her memories Pyrrha was a bit taller and grander than life but she looked the same as Ruby remembered her. Jaune, on the other hand, looked incredibly young compared to what the Jaune she knew. The eyes that always had some sadness in them, no matter what he was doing, were gone. He was just an awkward kid with no idea how much the world would fail him.

Gulping down a wave of nausea, Ruby renewed her vow to save Pyrrha, and by extension save Jaune.

"So, have you seen anyone?" she asked, with a tone that she hoped didn't betray the maelstrom of emotions she was feeling.

"Weiss, but she saw me and left," Jaune replied, almost whining. Pyrrha stopped laughing and coughed lightly.

"Well, we are looking for the temple," she said looking at Ruby for confirmation, who nodded, "want to come with us? Maybe you'll find a partner on the way!"

Jaune sighed but agreed, and with that they began walking.

— — —

The forest seemed endless and for a moment Ruby liked it that way, her urgency forgotten and her heart singing while watching Pyrrha and Jaune talk.

They had so much chemistry that it shocked her that it had taken Jaune so long to notice. Or maybe that was the reason. Considering his lack of success and fake confidence, maybe Pyrrha's interest had simply failed to register because he couldn't believe someone would like him as him?

Ruby didn't plan to stay long after warning Ozpin, she couldn't risk it, but she'd make sure that Jaune noticed earlier this time. In the long run it wouldn't matter since everyone was going to survive but a few extra months of happiness wouldn't hurt them either.

Following that thought, she scanned around for possible dangers. It had been many years but she still remembered their fight against the Nevermore. The first time her team had worked together. This time Weiss wasn't around to be persuaded to ride the giant bird though.

A wave of melancholy hit Ruby. _Where is Weiss?_

"Ladies, doesn't that cave look like it could be a temple?" Jaune asked, interrupting Ruby's thoughts.

"I don't know Jaune…" Pyrrha replied, looking warily at the entrance.

Ruby stayed quiet, trying to decide if she should intervene. The relics weren't in there but she wasn't supposed to know that.

"What do you think, Ruby?" Jaune asked, probably hoping for her to support him.

It took only one look at the boy for Ruby to make her decision. He needed more confidence after all, agreeing to his idea would be a good first step.

"Sure Jaune, let's check the cave."

— — —

Softly hitting her head against the cave's wall, Ruby acknowledged that maybe it hadn't been that good of an idea. The Death Stalker trying to get into the hole where they were hiding probably disagreed with her assessment but they would just have to agree to disagree.

It hadn't been until she had seen Jaune try and grab a shining hanging lantern, that the vague memories of her drunken friend telling them his side of how the exam had been the first time around came to mind. As fast as she could Ruby had tackled the boy out of the way, just before the Grimm had attacked. A loud crack echoed across the cave's walls.

The sudden noise and movement was enough to make the beast realize its trap had failed and with a speed that belied its large size it moved to block the exit.

Ruby had almost began running towards the exit, trying to ignore the burning sensation in her body, when she noticed Pyrrha was looking at Jaune with her hand covering her mouth. With the Death Stalker's stinger as their only light, she could see how Jaune had landed after her tackle, his arm in a position that no arm should be.

That moment of hesitation cost them the easy escape, the Grimm now slowly creeping up on them. Coordinating silently with Pyrrha they had grabbed their friend and had half-ran half-dragged him through a crack in the wall, too small for the Stalker to follow.

That was where Ruby was now, her body hurting and her heart heavy with guilt.

"I'm sorry Jaune, I didn't mean to push you that hard."

"Don't worry, you probably saved my life, dumb me thinking it was a relic," Jaune said, each word quieter than the last, ending up mumbling.

"It's still there," Pyrrha said, her voice coming from her left, where the crevice was.

"Look guys, don't worry about me, just leave and come back with help," Jaune said, through clenched teeth.

"What? No!"

"We're not leaving you here!"

There was a moment of silence before Pyrrha broke it, "I can distract the Death Stalker, then you can both leave and then we can–"

Ruby had begun shaking her head before Pyrrha had even begun suggesting her idea before realizing she couldn't see her. "No, the cave is too cramped for your fighting style. I'm not saying you wouldn't win but it'd be too risky. Even with Akoúo̱, you only need to be grazed once by that stinger to be in trouble, and its tip is particularly good at breaking through auras."

"How do you know about how I fight?" There was an edge in Pyrrha's voice that Ruby had never heard before, but she couldn't blame her. Not that that helped her figure out how to reply, before she remembered what she had said earlier.

"I'm your fan, remember? I saw you fight in your last tournament!"

There was a sigh and Ruby could imagine Pyrrha looking uncomfortable but that was a better outcome than whatever would have happened if she had been truthful _"I saw you kick far too many asses in the future to not know how you fight." _

Shaking her head at the thought, she continued, "It's a better idea for me to do it. With my semblance I can go through that Grimm and distract it from outside, with no need to fight until you two get out of the cave. Then, together we can see how we deal with it."

Ruby prayed Pyrrha wouldn't object. She would still do it since it was her fault everyone was in there but it'd be much easier if she could count on her friend to help Jaune.

Pyrrha apparently arrived at the same conclusion and, with reluctance clear in her voice, she replied, "Okay. Let's do it."

Nodding (and then vocally agreeing), Ruby exchanged places with Pyrrha. The Death Stalker had given up in watching over the crevice but it was still blocking the entrance, looking towards them.

With a deep breath, she focused. She had suggested using her semblance but there was something seriously wrong with it.

The first time she had used it since she had _jumped_ to this time she had blacked out. She had fainted when she had first awakened it–while training with Yang before Beacon–so, while weird, it had happened before. She was hoping it wouldn't happen again or she'd be seriously embarrassed and out of ideas.

What worried her more was that she had subconsciously used it when pushing Jaune out of the way and it had _hurt_. It had never hurt before. Even now she could feel her skin slightly burning and it scared her.

"Are you okay? I can still go and…" Pyrrha asked, the edge in her voice gone, replaced with concern.

"Yeah, sorry, just wanted to make sure I was pointing at the right direction," Ruby replied, putting on a smile. _I'll deal with this later, I need to get these two out of here._ "As soon as you see the Grimm follow me, get out of here."

And with that last instruction Ruby activated her semblance.

It hurt.

It hurt more than when she had broken some ribs.

It hurt more than when she had lost her eye.

It hurt more than anything she had felt before.

But she didn't black out, and she could work with that.

Her senses were _weird_ when she burst into petals and no matter how many times she tried she hadn't succeeded in putting it into words. She had no eyes, or ears or skin to feel with. Instead she could see, hear and feel everything her petals could at once, individually, which sometimes could be overwhelming. And right now each and every one of her petals felt like it was burning.

But she had experience, the cave was dark and her objective was obvious. The Death Stalker had felt the breeze and was closing in but in her form it was easy to move through the spaces the beast's body couldn't block.

Once outside she reformed and immediately fell into her knees, almost throwing up. The pain had gone from being everywhere to being in one consolidated place, which sadly was her entire body. And then it receded to a dull ache, enough to allow her to stand up.

"Hey, you big dumb thing, I'm over here!" Ruby yelled at the Death Stalker who was still turning around before it fixated its eyes on her. _C'mon, c'mon, chase me,_ she thought, preparing to run.

Just before Ruby could yell again, it gave up on guarding the cave and began moving towards her, even faster than before.

_Definitely old,_ Ruby thought, looking at the many dents in the Stalker's carapace, _at least fifty years. Does Ozpin know there's one of these here?_

Once it had closed in enough she began running, trying to keep it just far enough that it wouldn't decide to go back. _It wouldn't surprise me if it realized I'm trying to trick it, it's old enough to be crafty itself. What was Ozpin thinking?_

Looking back she measured up the beast. In her real body she could have defeated it easily, but the increased weight of Crescent Rose–or rather, how weak her hits were–in her earlier battle was enough to make her reconsider engaging the Stalker. And that was not even considering she couldn't use her semblance without wanting to die afterwards.

But if she returned, she'd be putting Pyrrha and Jaune in danger.

The air moved, and she instinctively ducked, one of the Death Stalker's pincers whooshing over her head.

It was no time to get distracted. She needed to end this.

"Yang is going to kill me…" she mumbled quietly, before stopping and turning to face the Grimm. "Let's do this you big bug, you and me."

The Stalker stopped in its tracks and looked at Ruby. _Yup, definitely intelligent enough to be wary._ Its beady red eyes tracked her movements but it wasn't like Ruby was trying to surprise it.

With a flourish she drew her rifle from her back and fired.

The bullets did nothing to the monster's carapace but accomplished what Ruby had intended: the beast moved its pincers to cover its eyes. Seizing the opportunity, Ruby ran towards the monster, jumping at the last possible second to avoid a pincer and land into its back.

She had only seconds to attack the weak spot in between the Stalker's plates and–

_Too slow_, she thought, leaping away from the yellow stinger, her body complaining at the sudden movement. Not only it still hurt from her semblance but every time she moved while in battle it felt like she was overextending her muscles.

_Maybe this was_

Again she jumped, this time a backward somersault, barely avoiding the splash of venom that the Stalker had sprayed from its stinger.

_a bad idea._

"but you know, even if it was a bad idea," she yelled, running in a circle as fast as she could without activating her semblance, trying to flank it, "it's not like I would choose to do anything else!"

With Crescent Rose extended, Ruby jumped forward one last time, this time intending to cut the beast's stinger. The Death Stalker tried turning but while it could move forward surprisingly fast, turning was something completely different for a creature with eight legs. There was no doubt she'd win.

And then the world went white.

* * *

AN: I wanted to post this last week but Mario Maker 2 happened, sorry!


End file.
